dunmore44 Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 I have just finished reading there’s a devil in the drum by John Lucy, and I thought that it was fantastic, even better than old soldiers never die. Does anyone have any pictures of John Lucy or his brother Denis would love to know what he looked like. Also I love this type of book and have read Frank Richards books, can anyone recommend any more ordinary soldiers memoirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 Sacrilege! The highest praise is 'almost as good as FR's book'! Try 'Four years on the western Front' by a rifleman: reprint available readily. Author Aubrey Smith. 'The Long Carry' Frank Dunham. 'Poor bloody infantry' WH Groom for starters. PS I do hope you read the modern annotated and illustrated FR books: if not, you missed a treat Modesty forbids telling you more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 " With a Machine Gun to Cambrai " G. Coppard. " Her Privates We", F. Manning. "The Road to St Julien", W. St Clair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunmore44 Posted 20 January , 2008 Author Share Posted 20 January , 2008 I must apoligise. Okay only as good as Old soldiers never die, its just that John Lucy's books is still really fresh as I only finished it this morning. In fact I enjoyed old soldiers so much that I went out and bought his other book. I wasn't lucky enough as to read the illustrated version, do you recommend it and is it still available to buy. regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 Please PM me with your email: I do not want to blatantly advertise on the site! Both books available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkalotloudly Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 i purchased both the Frank Richards books [annoted, illustrated etc} an excellent pair of books! regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter__m Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 My great grandfather was one of the men killed in the mortar attack detailed by Lucy in the last few chapters on Armentieres - the incident that breaks him and he talks about missing all his old friends again. I was out in Armentieres in July at the graves of the men. Lieutenant MacKenzie and Serjeant Doherty (Ryan) - the medical officers. (Names were changed by Lucy - not sure why he did this) And the men they were trying to help - Mullan (my great grandfather) and Erksine. They are all lying there side by side. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I found it and I cried my eyes out. Was amazing, I'd been researching and it all came together. I will never forget the book - it's simply brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMG65 Posted 20 January , 2008 Share Posted 20 January , 2008 Twelve Days On The Somme by Sidney Rogerson The Unreturning Army by Huntly Gordon Soldier From The Wars Returning by Charles Carrington From The Somme To The Armistice by Captain Stormont Gibbs A Subalterns Odyssey by Talbot Kelly Into Battle by Ernest Parker Advance From Mons by Walter Bloem (If memory serves me right he describes an action that John Lucy also describes and they weren't too far apart on the battlefield.) Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swizz Posted 21 January , 2008 Share Posted 21 January , 2008 I enjoyed reading Norman Gladden's 'Across the Piave' which is based on the Italian Front. Swizz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom A McCluskey Posted 21 January , 2008 Share Posted 21 January , 2008 Dunmore, I have to agree; There's a Devil in the Drum was a book that I really enjoyed. J F Lucy, I think, describes and paints a picture of Basic Training (and life in barracks) in what could be any pre-war regular battalion. Additionally, it contains his very useful account and details about the retreat from Mons. There's the odd bit of military humour (the bugler in barracks) to his own personal tragedy. It is a book that I will definitely read again and sits happily in my collection. If you enjoyed this book, and you enjoy personal accounts, I think you might also like Haunting Years by William Linton Andrews. He is a Yorkshireman that joins a Territorial Highland battalion on the outset of the First World War. Aye Tom McC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 21 January , 2008 Share Posted 21 January , 2008 "Some Desperate Glory" by Edwin Campion Vaughan - he was an officer, which is not quite what you are asking about, but the last chapter is a stunning depiction of Passchendaele... Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter__m Posted 25 January , 2008 Share Posted 25 January , 2008 I have to agree; There's a Devil in the Drum was a book that I really enjoyed. There's the odd bit of military humour (the bugler in barracks) to his own personal tragedy. It is a book that I will definitely read again and sits happily in my collection. Yes! I absolutely loved the bit about the bugler in the barracks pretending that he was going to his mother's funeral, I also found the chapter about falling asleep while marching both captivating and disturbing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vista52 Posted 25 January , 2008 Share Posted 25 January , 2008 I got this book from my local library on an inter-library loan about 6 months ago. It took a while to come but when it did I found that it was an original 1938 edition and had come from Drew University, Madison NJ. That is 2900 miles from my home in Vista, California!! I also loved the book and hoped to find a photo of John Lucy, but no luck so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey Posted 26 January , 2008 Share Posted 26 January , 2008 Somme Harvest by Giles Eyre: excellent account KRRC private. My personal favorite. Ghosts have Warm Hands by Will Bird Two of the best memoirs out there. Currently I'm ready the Hell the Humour and the Heartbreak by Bert Bishop, an Australian, a private throughout the war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom A McCluskey Posted 26 January , 2008 Share Posted 26 January , 2008 Hi All, I can vividly picture in my mind the hungover bugler opening the window and calling reveille, whilst still sat in bed Aye Tom McC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Trim Posted 26 January , 2008 Share Posted 26 January , 2008 While teaching WW1 to my class I had told them Lucy's story about falling asleep on a march. Some of them found it hard to believe (they know so much ). Fortunately I could back it up with my own experiences from my Para days when I fell asleep on a night march, rolled down the steep bank of a forestry track and got whacked round the head by the anti tank weapon I was carrying! Some (many) aspects of a soldiers life have not changed much from Lucy's days. Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connaughtranger Posted 26 January , 2008 Share Posted 26 January , 2008 Dunmore44, I agree with your assessment of There's a Devil in the Drum. There's no sign of arrogance either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cbrowo Posted 29 January , 2008 Share Posted 29 January , 2008 Dunmore 44 asks about a picture of John Lucy. The only published picture that I know which shows him during the First War appears in Sir John Hammerton's series of books "The Great War I was There". In Volume 1 page 60 is a section of There's a Devil in the Drum with his picture at the top. It shows him in hospital recovering from wounds (Hence the stick). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkes Lamb Posted 29 January , 2008 Share Posted 29 January , 2008 The veteran of many book reviews for other related web sites and magazines plus the GBG web site, I agree that this volume and the previous one by the same author provide the reader with most excellent reading and would certainly recomend them to anyone with an interest in the British Army at the turn of the century and during the Gt War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarvis Posted 29 January , 2008 Share Posted 29 January , 2008 There is a photograph and article entitled 'Long Lines Of Death' in the 30s magazine The Great War...I Was There part two. (Not part 1 as stated previously... I have part two in my hand as we speak/type, page 60 is correct)...edit...[just checked and it could well be Volume 1 Part 2, althought it does not say Volume 1....definitely part 2 though...sorry Caughley] The article is interestingly written (about 3 pages) and describes Mons, 23 August 1914 and is accompanied by a photograph of him circa 1915 as a Sergeant. Sorry, my main PC (with scanner) is down and about to be rebuilt at the minute, when I can tear myself away from the Forum. Perhaps another Forum pal can oblige here. There is a brief narrative of Corporal John Lucy at the top of the page : The author of this magnificent description of his experiences at Mons, who, with his brother, ran away from home and enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles in 1912, was a corporal in 1914. He rose to the rank of sergeant and was commissioned 2nd-Lt. in 1917, retiring as Captain. he was invalided home with multiple wounds during the 2nd battle of Ypres. He wrote a famous war book, 'There's a devil in the Drum'. Regards. Jarvis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vista52 Posted 30 January , 2008 Share Posted 30 January , 2008 Hi Jarvis, If there is anyway you could post a photo of John Lucy, I would love to see it. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarvis Posted 30 January , 2008 Share Posted 30 January , 2008 Hi Jarvis, If there is anyway you could post a photo of John Lucy, I would love to see it. Paul Hello Paul, it might take a couple of days (at the weekend probably) but I will make sure you get it unless another member of the Forum has obliged you by then. Regards. Jarvis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarvis Posted 31 January , 2008 Share Posted 31 January , 2008 Corporal John F Lucy. Photograph taken in 1915 (Sergeant John F Lucy by then). (Not the best quality of sources for the photograph but the only source I have or know of, and after it has been reduced to 100 Kb to post on the Forum it has degraded a little more....just wish I could be as lucky with some of my researched 'fallen'.) Regards. Jarvis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vista52 Posted 2 February , 2008 Share Posted 2 February , 2008 Hi Jarvis, Thank you very much for posting the Photo. I was a little surprised but I'm not sure I could describe what I was expecting though! I really enjoyed his book and it's great to put a face to the author. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanhemmings Posted 25 September , 2008 Share Posted 25 September , 2008 Just finished reading this book. It is THE best book I have read to date. His description of his brother - "forward he went, out of my sight forever" said it all. A compelling read. I just could not put it down. Simple words, meant so much. Truly amazing read. Susan. Thank you for posting the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now